Use AI in your small business

Individuals and businesses can use artificial intelligence tools, which include everything from image and video creators to chatbots. One of the most difficult hurdles for business owners who want to use AI is to dip their toes in the water. The learning curve doesn’t seem as steep after that.

Derek Pando is the founder of Beeloo an online company that offers printable activities to children. He says, “I am very confident that anything you are doing right now can be easily automated with AI, whether it’s creating something in Excel, writing a marketing copy, or writing an email that you have no idea how to phrase.”

Lakesha Cole is the founder and CEO of She PR in Tampa, Florida. She says that integrating AI into their daily work has kept her workload under control. Cole feels as if she has “added 3 new team members with no overhead .”

No prior knowledge is required to implement AI into the operations of your small business.

The AI can be used to do many things but it can’t understand your thoughts. If your questions aren’t clear and precise, they might not be answered correctly.

Cole said, “It is only as intelligent as you.” You still need to tell it what you want.

She stresses that learning specific prompts for your industry is important to AI-powered bots. Joe Karasin of Karasin PPC, a digital marketing agency, recommends searching for online prompt guides if you aren’t sure how to get started.

He says that if you do a bit of work on the front end, you can avoid spending a lot of time telling AI what to perform.

Cole said it took about three months for her team to master AI platforms. The team recorded the best prompts so they could quickly refer to them in future.

Think about the tasks which take the longest to complete and see if AI could help you streamline these. You know, for example, that researching content can take longer than writing it. Karasin says he can save 15-20 hours each week by using ChatGPT for finding citations, resources and a variety of other information for the topics that he covers for his clients. He stresses that it is important to verify the accuracy of the information.

He says, “I will do research in that place but I still write original material.”

Cole utilizes an AI image creator to speed up the graphic design process in her business.

Chatbots that use AI can also help plan your tasks. Cole gives them deadlines and goals for a project like a new product launch and then asks them how realistic a timeline they can create.

Pando uses AI chatbots for marketing, among other things. The bots can help his company’s human-written blog posts be condensed into posts for specific social media platforms like Instagram or LinkedIn. The team can also provide Pando with headlines he can tweak and work on, which is helpful when he’s stuck in a creative slump.

He says, “I will say, Give me five short posts I can use on social media’, or Summarize it into one paragraph’.” The AI tools will do all the work that is downstream of creating the core content. They’ll give us lots and options, and then cut it down.

Pando can also give AI chatbots voice prompts, for example, if they should make a post seem funny or interesting. They won’t know what voice to use if they don’t.

Cole explains, “I am very selective and picky about when I choose to use AI and when I have to appear myself.”

The decision is made on an individual basis depending on whether it’s a project, client or both. She views AI as “a starting point”, rather than a standalone solution.

Pando also believes in transparency. He says that small businesses are at risk of losing the magic behind what connects a business with its customers, which is trust and personal connections. Beeloo has a policy on its website that explains how it uses AI technology.